Theatre

Using Open-Source Build Tools in a Professional Environment

Christopher Seidl

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30:31

EOC 2024

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Christopher Seidl

Christopher Seidl is a Director of Product Management with over twenty years of experience in the industry. He responsible for the Keil tools, including Keil MDK, Arm’s leading development environment for Cortex-M based microprocessors. The Keil team is now working on the future of embedded software development using modern cloud-native technologies.

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C Microcontroller Tools Open Source

Theatre

Using Open-Source Build Tools in a Professional Environment

Christopher Seidl

30:31 EOC 2024

Christopher Seidl

30:31

The open-source CMSIS-Toolbox offers new ways of working on embedded projects. It uses CMSIS-Packs for device/board support and access to reusable software components. The operation is controlled via intuitive csolution project files in YAML format. The build engine CMake/Ninja calls the C/C++ compiler toolchain that generates the build output. In this session, professional developers will learn how to use the new project format in an IDE integration, and on CI and MLOps systems.

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What is the main professional benefit of using the CMSIS-Toolbox as described in the talk?

A It provides reproducible builds by managing versioned CMSIS-Packs and their component dependencies.

B It replaces traditional IDEs entirely by providing a full GUI-only development environment.

C It requires using only ARM's proprietary compiler toolchain to guarantee compatibility.

D It automatically generates product documentation and field bug fixes for you.

E It eliminates any need to manage linker scripts or pack versions manually.

In CMSIS-Toolbox terminology, what does a "context" represent?

A A dedicated configuration that includes a project name, build type, and target type.

B A saved debugger session that contains runtime state and breakpoints.

C Only the specific compiler version used for a build.

D A single combined YAML file that merges cproject and csolution for convenience.

E A Docker image definition used exclusively for CI builds.

Which sequence best describes how the C-Build tool orchestrates building a csolution?

A Download required CMSIS-Packs, invoke the build engine (CMake/Ninja), then call the C/C++ compiler toolchain to produce the build output.

B Directly compile source files using a built-in compiler without invoking CMake or external toolchains.

C Only download packs; leave all actual build steps to the IDE or user manually.

D Use vcpkg to execute the entire build and link steps instead of invoking CMake/Ninja.

E Convert YAML project files to a proprietary binary and delegate building to vendor cloud services only.

When working with multi-project csolutions (example: TrustZone secure and non-secure projects), what practical consideration did Christopher emphasize?

A Build order matters because the non-secure project can rely on output files from the secure project.

B Both projects can always be built in parallel with no dependency or order concerns.

C You must manually merge secure and non-secure projects into a single project file to build them correctly.

D The csolution automatically produces one combined binary for both projects without separate builds.

E Secure and non-secure projects always require different compilers and cannot share build types.

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Upvotes Newest Oldest

Erwin

Score: 0 | 2 years ago | 1 reply

Hello Christopher, as you mentioned there are integrations for ARM Compiler, ARM GCC, IAR and CLANG. As I've seen from the list this are all cross compilers for target code. Are there any plans to support dual targetting by adding support for Windows or Linux compilers?

ChristopherSeidlSpeaker

Score: 0 | 2 years ago | no reply

Hello.Erwin,
I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly. You are asking if you could compile the code for Windows/Linux systems? If so, no this is not planned. We are talking about mmicrocontrollers here, not microprocessors.

cijart

Score: 0 | 2 years ago | no reply

very useful effort.

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